Adjustable grate for ovens



(No Model.)

) G. w. VERRILL.

. ADJUSTABLE GRATE FOR OVENS. No. 274,533. Patented MaL'Z'Y, 1883. v

GEORGE W. VERRILL,

PATENT FFICE.

OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

ADJUSTABLE GRATE FOR OVENS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Application filed August 30, 1882. (No model.)

Patent No. 274,533, dated March 27, 1883.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. VERRILL, of Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Grates for Ovens; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to the grate or shelf of ovens. All such grates or shelves heretofore made, so far as I am aware, rest on ledges fixed to the sides of the oven, and can be adjusted in height only by drawing them out and shifting them either to higher or lower ledges, and when not neeessarymust be removed from the oven and laid aside.

As it is often necessary in baking to raise or lower the article to be baked,the construction heretofore known involves the removal of the article from the oven and the lifting and return of it to the oven. As the door must remain open during this operation the oven becomes partially cooled, and the process of baking is interrupted and sometimes materially interfered with.

The object of my invention is to remedy these defects; and to this end myinvention consists essentially of an oven grate or shelf suspended or supported on vertically-movable supports in connection with devices for raising or lowering it without removal from the oven.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of an oven with my adjustable grate in position. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. ,Fig. 3 is a side elevation of handle and crank for operating the same, with the locking device. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified, raising apparatus. Fig. 5 isalso amodification. Fig. 6 is a detail of one form of raising-chain. Fig. 7 is a modification permitting the use of oven-ledges, and

Fig. 8 an endview of the construction shown in Fig. 3.

In these drawings, Gr represents an open grate or shelf of ordinary construction. It is fitted to the oven 0 so that it may rise and fall freely therein. The sides of the oven may be plain surfaces, or with the ordinary ledges with corresponding spaces and'projections in the grate. This grate is supported on chains (3, preferablyone at each corner. These chains are carried over pulleys P, and are, as shown in Fig. 1, connected to a wheel or frame, R, by means of which the chains are operated. This frame lies close to the upper part of the oven, and is shown in plan view, Fig. 2. It is pivoted centrally, as at I, and has a segmental rack on one side, as shown at R. The frame may be made of light wrought or cast iron and of a size suitable to give sufficient motion to the chains. These are attached to the periphery of the frame at points approximately in line with the pulleys P. A small shaft, S, is let into the oven through the side or back. This shaft carries on its inner end a pinion, p, which meshes into the segmental rack. The outer end of the shaft has a crank and handle,

turned. Partial rotation of the frame will draw upon the chains and raise or lower the grate, and obviously this may be done with cooked and without opening the door.

In order to arrest the shaft and grate at any point, I provide a sliding bolt, b, in the crank, which is pressed inward by a spring, and may engage with any one of a series of holes in a disk, A, on the stove and concentric with the handle. The handle slides in and out and acts upon a lever, l, to retract the bolt.

Manifestly the devices for raising or lowering the grate may be radically changed, and the operating devices may be placed inside the oven, though without the same convenience. For example, instead of the devices heretofore described, I may use devices shown in Fig. 4, in which ashaft worked by a crank like that described above may carry bevelgea-rs which mesh into other bevel-gears on the upper ends of the worms 6 6. These worms are preferably located opposite each other, midway the oven, and as near as practicable to the walls. They 'may be partially incased by a shelf, f, which also may serve as a guide for the grate as it moves up or down. These shafts are threaded or provided with worms, which work in threaded spaces either in the grate itself or in blocks which carry the grate, or in large ovens a single central vertical shaft out removing therefrom the article to be.

H, by means of which the frame B may be IOC may be used. This construction gives a positive movement to the gratein both directions, and in this respect has an advantage over the chains heretofore described; but the chains may be carried down and over pulleys in the bottom to give like positive downward movement. Flat chains, flexible only in one direction, may be advantageously used for the same purpose, said chains having cogs meshing into a pinion on the shaft, as in Fig. 6. Another modification (shown in Fig. 5) has a simple horizontal shaft, S, on which the chains are wound to raise thegrate. I do not limit myself to these specific devices. The invention is applicable to any kind of cooking'oven where it is desirable at any stage of the cooking to raise or lower the grate. It permits the raising or lowering to any point without opening the oven, and when not in use the grate may be raised to the top of the oven, where it is out of the way and is kept hot ready for use. i

I have described the oven as without ledges. This is of course for the purpose of permitting the edges ofthe grate to be guided against the walls; but grateledges may be made, ifdesired, for any emergency-such as breakage of the raising devices, or for the temporary insertion of an extra grate. In this case the ledges should terminate short of the edge of the overt wall, leaving aspace at each end (orsuch spaces may be imermediate) for projections on the edge of the grate to bear against and guide the grate in rising and falling. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 7, in which the ledge F does not extend the whole width of the oven, and projections h h on the grate H move up and down in spaces, the ends bearing against the wall; or grooves instead of ledges may be made in the walls.

I am aware that the patent of Hammer, No. 95,106, shows a baking-ovenhaving furnaces placed directly below in separate chambers, and having also counterbalancing-cages suspended in such chambers, suitable dampersbetween the furnace and the cages for regulating the heat, and a small opening for the admission andintroduction of the article to be baked; and I do not; claim the same, the whole conception and idea of my invention being different.

1. In combination with an oven connected to the fire-pot of a stove by fines, a movable shelf within such oven, and means, substantially as described, for elevating and lowering such shelf and for retaining it in position, whereby the shelf may be adjusted according to the degree of heat required, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in an oven, of vertically-movable grate, the chains, shaft, and crank, and the spring-bolt and retracting-lever, substantially as'described.

3. The combination ofthe shelf, devices for supporting the same, a shaft passing through the shell of the oven, having mechanism connected to the said supporting devices, a crank outside the shell, and the spring lock or catch for holding the said shaft stationary, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE w. VERRILL. 

